“Need some help? Cass asked.
Ada turned around. “No, fuck it. It can stay where it is. I was hoping to fit one more barrel in here. But three will be enough for now.”
Cass took a step toward her and backed up immediately. “Good lord, what is that smell? Is that the concoction?”
“This is early stages. Fermenting. Won’t be done for a few weeks.”
“It stinks.”
“It works,” said Ada. “Come to the other shed and help me with the bottles. Still have a couple people that have to stop by and grab theirs.”
“Sure thing.” Cass walked with her. “So, I take it Lena went out with a search party?”
Ada stopped walking. “No, why would you say that?”
“Walt gave her that green mini-van to ride around in so she didn’t have to walk or bother you for a ride to and from town.”
“Okay.”
“It’s gone.”
“I didn’t even notice. I…” Ada switched directions. Instead of going to the other shed, she hightailed it to the house, barreling in the back door.
Trixie peeped a shriek. “You scared me. I was making you breakfast.”
“Where’s Lena?” Ada asked.
“Still sleeping, I guess. I saw her last night. She went to bed early.” Trixie’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”
The back door opened again and Cass ran in. “Oh my God, you run fast for an old lady. Is she here?”
“Sleeping,” said Trixie. “But Ada is worrying me.”
Ada was worried too. Something didn’t sit right with her and immediately she walked out of the kitchen to the stairs and up.
Cass followed. “Ada, maybe she joined a team and didn’t want to tell you.”
Ada didn’t reply. She got to the top of the stairs and walked to Lena’s room. She brought her hand to the door and it opened when she knocked.
The room was empty and the bed was made.
“See,” Cass said. “She went on the search party.”
On the bed was a folded piece of paper and Ada lifted it. After unfolding it, her eyes skimmed it. “No, Cass, she didn’t.” She handed the note to Cass. A note that simply read, ‘Ada, thanks for everything. I went home.’
Los Angeles, CA
She was able to make it within a mile of her home, then Lena had to stop, the roads were just not passible. Some of the freeway was covered and it made for a bumpy ride, then there was too much of the fungus to even attempt to drive.
The fungus reminded her of old tree roots, long, wayward, and thick. It spread about like veins across the roads, wrapping up the sides of buildings, all covered in this thick multi-shade of green grassy-looking substance.
The perfectly maintained lawns of her neighborhood were still lush and green, untouched by the fungus growth. The driveways and pillars weren’t so lucky. The corners and roofs of homes seemed to be prime growth spots.
Art and Niles had talked about how it would destroy everything that wasn’t alive—she finally understood what they meant when she saw some of the homes. It had only been days, yet the brick exteriors of some appeared to be crumbling, as if the fungus was squeezing it apart.
The walk to her own home was a painful one. Each step breaking her heart knowing what she would find. Trixie told her that her family had passed because of the original event, the pred bug spray that took out most of the world. With the heat, she knew what she could physically face.
It wasn’t so much that she had to touch and see her family, she just needed to be where they were.
It had been days, and the usually temperate weather of Los Angeles was hot and muggy.
Lena approached her driveway. The gate was open and, like the pillars, covered with the fungus. The driveway was slick, and it felt like she was walking in a creek, thick stones beneath her feet making an unstable ground.
Her grass was untouched, as were her imported bushes and rose garden.
The fungus covered her double doors and the brick of her home. She knew the door would be impossible to open, so she walked around to the back.
The fungus made no sense to her. It looked as if it attacked with no rhyme or reason. Wanting to become one with nature, leaving everything that God created alone.
The entire pool area was covered, the statues tightly wound up with the growth, yet the water in the pool was untouched.
The fungus hadn’t fully reached the sliding glass door of the kitchen, just part of the base and Lena slid it open enough to squeeze through.
The home had a weird sour and musky smell. She entered into the breakfast area, just near the kitchen. While the growth had crept into the breakfast nook, the kitchen was untouched. Her shiny appliances still glimmered as if just cleaned.
Trixie told her that her family had all passed away in the family room. Both children on the sofa, her mother on the love seat and John in a chair.
Knowing that was where she had to go, Lena headed that way.
With each step not only was it emotionally difficult, it was increasingly physically difficult as well. It was like a forest with unbreakable limbs, a prison of nature, and Lena squeezed through each opening she could, climbing her way into the family room.
She made it to the doorway and couldn’t go any farther. The entire room was filled. The branch-style fungus broke through the walls and created a gate in the doorway she could not pass.
She looked through. The sun peeked through the windows and gave enough light for her to see the outline of the sofa and loveseat. The green mounds of what looked like clovers and moss were on the furniture and Lena knew what that was.
It was her family.
She began to sob. Looping her fingers through the moss vines, holding on and staring out like a prisoner from her cell.
Lena was a prisoner of her own nightmare.
She wasn’t going anywhere, not yet. There she’d stand looking at what remained, praying they hadn’t suffered and missing them more than her soul could bear.
She didn’t know how long she would stay or even if she would go at all. She’d made it home, to her family, and at that moment, that was all that mattered to Lena.
24.
DOME
May 11
Griffin, AZ
The police station looked like a war room. Maps covered the wall, the white board had numerous notes, and pictures printed from cell phone footage were plastered on the wall. Mark stood before a crowded room, trying to engage and answer while everyone seemed to talk at once.
Cass was engrossed looking at the pictures.
“This thing,” Mark said, “spreads over a hundred feet an hour. That’s a mile a day.”
“Anything on the other side of Miller Run Road,” someone said, “will bring it to Griffin in less than three days.”
“No. No,” Art said strong. “All of you are wrong. It’s not the Blob, it doesn’t move like a river or like lava. It’s like a pebble in a pond. It spreads that way. Wherever it was dropped. If anyone or anything was dead from OG-22X, then there were flies, if there were flies, they carried it.”
“Then it’s here,” Mark said, his words bringing immediate silence to the room. “It’s here in Griffin. We’ve had seven deaths from it. Why haven’t I seen it?”
Niles answered, “Because the bodies are in Fillman’s freezers. The temperature is slowing the growth, but trust me, if we go look I’ll bet it’s there. Just waiting for its chance to escape.”
“Jesus Christ,” Mark said. “What do we do?”
“Burn Fillman’s,” Art suggested.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Eb. “Cremate the bodies and douse the place with Ada’s concoction. We know it works and kills it immediately. In fact, we need to all be armed and ready with the stuff. Hit it as soon as we see it. Because I don’t see how we’re gonna be spared.”